The European Union funded Greening Sri Lanka Hotels Project under the SWITCH-Asia Programme is targeted at enhancing the environmental performance of Sri Lankan hotels through improvement of energy, water and waste management systems.
This reduces the cost of operations and increases the market acceptance of Sri Lankan hotels through promoting them as low carbon footprint green hotels.
A total of 179 hotels have signed up for ongoing activities, and more than 89 walk through audits have so far been completed. In addition, another 10 hotels have been short listed for in-depth study and interventions at present, Switch Asia Programme Project Director Srilal Miththapala said.
"Economic growth" has been the key term when describing the recent spectacular development in the Asian region. On one hand, this development has successfully contributed to poverty reduction in the region. On the other hand, increased growth and trade have multiplied demands on resources and are leading to severe environmental damages, he said at a press conference held last week to evaluate the progress made by the project during its two years of operation in the country.With the world's population having passed seven billion, the question of sustainable consumption has never been more significant. Pressures on natural resources are rising and it becomes essential to decouple socio-economic development and human well-being from resource use. Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) is a practical implementation strategy that helps ensuring economic gains without compromising future natural resources needs through application of recycle-thinking, eco-design and eco-innovation. By focusing on reduced environmental impact and increased resource efficiency, SCP is serving as an operational vehicle for a transition to green eonomy which is the focus today.
The Switch-Asia programme targeted at increasing the market acceptance of Sri Lankan hotels through promoting them as low carbon footprint green hotels. The programme included provision of free consultancy, advice and technical inputs, help identify areas for improvement, workforce training and improved workforce quality, help prepare project feasibility reports, benchmark and compare environment performance with other hotels, support adherence to regulations and preparation for certification and helps publicize success stories abroad.
Among the policy interventions by the programme were involvement with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, working in conjunction with SLTDA to formulate a proper green accreditation scheme for all hotels, check-list for environmental/energy conservation measures for construction of new hotels, and input and advice in finalizing in new hotel star classification scheme to introduce environmental and energy conservation aspects.
Image: CCC Solutions (Pvt) Limited Managing Director and CEO Prema Cooray addressing the media while SWITCH Asia Project Director Srilal Miththapala and Senior Energy Manager Chamila Jayasekera look on.
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• EU-SWITCH-Asia Greening Sri Lanka Hotels Project Help Switch from Oil & Diesel to Biomass for Steam Generation in Hotels
